History Main / AlwaysAChildToParent

* ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' has Jason [[https://www.somethingpositive.net/sp10112019.shtml approach his daughter about trick-or-treating that year]], which she blows off as "kid's stuff" because she's 10 now - only for her mother to admonish her for [[InvokedTrope invoking this trope]] as a means to play on Jason's fears about her growing up.

** ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'': Polly Oliver has had to take care of a mentally retarded brother most of her life, so she ends up treating her lieutenant in the same way, telling him to spit in a handkerchief so she can wipe his face.

* ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'' has a PromotedToParent variant. It turns out the escaped convict is the brother of Baskerville Hall's housekeeper, and she keeps smuggling him food and clothes since to him he's still her little brother who needs her constant supervision (and Watson notes that a man is truly done for when no female member of his family feels like this).
* Appears several times in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Polly Oliver in ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' has had to take care of a mentally retarded brother most of her life, so she ends up treating her lieutenant in the same way, telling him to spit in a handkerchief so she can wipe his face.
** Glenda in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', who is basically a mother hen to her friend Julia despite their being the same age and ruling over the Night Kitchen much like her grandmother did. As lampshaded by Vetinari, who says they go through life like mothers on a playground, wiping up faces, blowing noses and otherwise treating adults like children.
** Nanny Ogg's cat Greebo is a vicious, foul-smelling, one-eyed, ''evil'' rapist of a tomcat that can scare off alligators, wolves and bears ([[MamaBear unless they have cubs]]), but she sees him as the tiny kitten he was a very, very long time ago.
* Early in ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} Deryni Rising]]'', Queen Jehana and her ladies treat Kelson as if he were a child. One of her ladies finds Kelson conversing with Duke Alaric Morgan and chides him for going off by himself and making his mother worry over the danger, and she fails to address Kelson as king (a failure for which Morgan scolds her). After Kelson's masterful performance at Morgan's treason trial in council, Jehana bitterly reflects that he opposed her effectively, "not with childish taunts".
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' with Cersei and her son Joffrey. Because he was the firstborn child, male, beautiful, and first in line to the throne besides, she'd always babied and indulged him while neglecting to show the same affection to her next two children. As a result, he grows up a spoiled, cruel child, but nevertheless Cersei still acts like he is her faultless firstborn, and remains blind to his flaws. When he ascends to the throne, she seems to believe that she can use his status as king to [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen rule the realm by proxy]] and attempts to control him, but [[TheCaligula he proves to be more uncontrollable than her biased view of him thought.]]

* ''Film/FatherOfTheBride'' opens with the family at the table. As they eat, a little girl of lower elementary school age announces that she met a man in Rome, and they are getting married. Her father is startled. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Camera cuts back to the daughter, who is actually an adult, repeating joyfully, "I'm engaged! We're getting married!"

'''Defense Attorney''': A big-hearted boy with a taste for violence and [[DirtyCommunist for communist rhetoric]]. A foolhardy boy who went to a foreign country to preach revolution.

* ''WesternAnimation/{Bunnicula}'': Mina's dad throws her a pink, sparkly, princess and pony party, "like she has always loved" ... when she was much younger. Now she's 13 and the princess dress she used to wear is way too small for her. But dad forces her to wear it anyway.
-->'''Mina's dad:''' I found it in the garbage, of all places!

[[folder:Anime and Manga]

[[folder: Advertising ]]

* There's a commercial with a dad going over a pre-ignition checklist with his six year old daughter who turns out to be sixteen when he sees her with eyes that acknowledge she's growing up.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In one of the live action ''Manga/GeGeGeNoKitaro'' movies, the older youkai have failed to understand that Kitaro and Neko-Musume are well into puberty (and played by [[DawsonCasting twenty-somethings]]) and continue to treat them like the children they're usually portrayed as.

[[folder: Comedy]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKL1tNv__kU This]] classic comedy routine ends this way, with the son humoring his mom's demeaning attitude.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* A played with example. Batman -- ''the'' Batman made Robin his {{Sidekick}} when the boy was only 8 or so. His acrobatic prowess meant he mostly kept out of trouble, distracting the villains while Batman did the heavy lifting. But in TheSeventies continuity, a villain was sharp enough to shoot Robin and hit him. Batman's trouble coping with the idea that his Robin -- his ''son'' in all but name -- had nearly died -- that he forbade Dick Grayson from being Robin for fear of it happening again. Dick, already used to a life of costumed crimefighting, rebelled. This caused the two of them to have an enormous fight resulting in a falling out, and the creation of Nightwing.

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* ''Fanfic/FromBajorToTheBlack'': When Kanril Eleya's family drops her off at a shuttleport en route to boot camp, her mother Shora tells her 17-year-old daughter "You're still my little girl."

[[folder: Film - Animated ]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', as Tai Lung leaps to attack his mentor and adoptive father Shifu, the kung fu master momentarily sees his renegade pupil as the adorable snow leopard cub he'd once been. The memory of baby Tai Lung makes the elderly monk hesitate and his ex-student brings him down.

[[folder: Film - Live Action ]]

* In the film ''The Baby'', the mother and her grown daughters took her denial to an unhealthy extreme. She had her adult son who had to be in his 20s-30s, still in diapers and babbling like a baby, playing with rattles, etc. They even called him "Baby" instead of by name. The implication here is that the Baby was mentally challenged, but with treatment, might grow to behave and function closer to his correct age.
* ''Film/FatherOfTheBride'' opens with the family at the table. As they eat, a little girl of lower elementary school age announces that she met a man in Rome, and they are getting married. Her father is startled. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Camera cuts back to the daughter, who is actually an adult, repeating joyfully, "I'm engaged! We're getting married!"

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Appears several times in Literature/{{Discworld}}.

* Early in ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} Deryni Rising]]'' Queen Jehana and her ladies treat Kelson as if he were a child. One of her ladies finds Kelson conversing with Duke Alaric Morgan and chides him for going off by himself and making his mother worry over the danger, and she fails to address Kelson as king (a failure for which Morgan scolds her). After Kelson's masterful performance at Morgan's treason trial in council, Jehana bitterly reflects that he opposed her effectively, "not with childish taunts".

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'':
** Macie turns thirteen. Her parents completely forget her birthday. When she reminds them, they are appalled at having forgotten, and appropriately apologetic. They throw her a huge party: suitable for a five year old. Ginger tries to intervene, but Macie gets angry with her for doing so. In the end, her parents do acknowledge she's older.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** "Sadie's Song" has Sadie's mom Barb, who displays traits of MyBelovedSmother as well; Sadie has an enormous pile of cutesy plush toys which she describes as "not really hers". Sadie's mother comes home and adds a bear with a cutesy bib reading "I wuv you woads".

[[folder: Truth In Television ]]

* Lenore Skenazy of the "Free Range Kids" movement can attest to this.

[[/folder]]

** "Somepony To Watch Over Me": The Apple family has held a meeting to determine whether or not Apple Bloom is old enough to take care of the farm and the chores by herself for done day while Applejack and Big Macintosh make deliveries. Applejack can't cope with the idea of leaving Apple Bloom alone, and returns to the farm, where she commences treating Apple Bloom like she's barely any older than the baby Cake Twins. She descends into addressing Apple Bloom in BabyTalk. She baby-proofs the entire orchard, driving Apple Bloom to desperate measures to prove she is capable of self-reliance. She only snaps out of it when she sees Apple Bloom is capable of quick thinking in a crisis even if she didn't take the dangers of the delivery route into consideration.

** Fury is 16, and has an aunt Sugar Plum who insists on calling her "Sweet Cheeks" and throwing her little kid parties with ponies, puppies, pink, and sparkles. Fury doesn't want the baby parties, but also doesn't want to hurt her aunt's feelings. The MeanGirls eventually reveal what Fury was trying not to say, and Fury gets her rad teen rock-n-roll party in the end.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKL1tNv__kU This]] classic comedy routine ends this way, with the son humoring his mom at the end.

If the parent can't rein in their tendency to control every aspect of their child's life regardless of their having grown up, such a parent can go from simply denying their fledgling is ready to fly, and go straight on to being an OverprotectiveDad or MyBelovedSmother. If they have been told and told and ''told'' repeatedly to quit trying to interfere and act like they know best, this trope joins with MeddlingParents.

[[AC: Advertising]]

[[AC: {{Anime}} and Manga]]

[[AC: ComicBooks]]
* A played with example. Batman -- ''the'' Batman made Robin his {{Sidekick}} when the boy was only 8 or so. His acrobatic prowess meant he mostly kept out of trouble, distracting the villains while Batman did the heavy lifting. But in TheSeventies continuity, a villain was sharp enough to shoot Robin and hit him. Batman's trouble coping with the idea that his Robin -- his ''son'' in all but name -- had nearly died -- that he forbade Dick Grayson from being Robin for fear of it happening again. Dick, already used to a life of costumed crimefighting, rebelled. This caused the two of them to have an enormous fight resulting in a falling out, and the creation of Nightwing.

[[AC: Fan Works]]

[[AC: Film - Animated]]

[[AC: Film - Live Action]]
* In the film ''The Baby'', the mother and her grown daughters took her denial to an unhealthy extreme. She had her adult son who had to be in his 20s-30s, still in diapers and babbling like a baby, playing with rattles, etc. They even called him "Baby" instead of by name. The implication here is that the Baby was mentally challenged, but with treatment, might grow to behave and function closer to his correct age.

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]

[[AC: {{Music}}]]

[[AC: TruthInTelevision]]

[[AC: {{Theatre}}]]

[[AC: WebComics]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'':

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': One of the last resorts from Onni to keep Tuuri and Lalli to leave for the expedition is to claim that they aren't adults and hence shouldn't leave home. There are two problems with his statement. The first is that the home in question is ''a military base in which all three of them are employed''. The second is that Tuuri and Lalli are twenty-one and nineteen years old respectively, while Onni got his PromotionToParent towards them when he was sixteen.

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': One of the last resorts form Onni to keep Tuuri and Lalli to leave for the expedition is to claim that they aren't adults and hence shouldn't leave home. There are two problems with his statement. The first is that the home in question is ''a military base in which all three of them are employed''. The second is that Tuuri and Lalli are twenty-one and nineteen years old respectively, while Onni got his PromotionToParent towards them when he was sixteen.

[[AC: {{Theatre}}]]

If the parent can't reign in their tendency to control every aspect of their child's life regardless of their having grown up, such a parent can go from simply denying their fledgling is ready to fly, and go straight on to being an OverprotectiveDad or MyBelovedSmother. If they have been told and told and ''told'' repeatedly to quit trying to interfere and act like they know best, this trope joins with MeddlingParents.

* There are multiple commercials that involve a mom or a dad trying to cope with their driving-age son or daughter getting behind the wheel for the first time.
** There's one with a dad going over a pre-ignition checklist with his six year old daughter who turns out to be sixteen when he sees her with eyes that acknowledge she's growing up.
** There's another with a boy of about four or five going through the various difficulties involved with owning a car. This one is a played with example, as the boy is still four when all is said and done, and in no hurry to grow up.

* It is sadly commonplace to see in the news, friends and family of a serial killer or mass shooter expressing shock and disbelief that anyone could think "that sweet little [[AlwaysMale boy]]" could ever do anything like the crime they're accused of. Occasionally the parents will react with rage at the accusation and insist that their sweet kid could never hurt a fly.

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', as Tai Lung leaps to attack his mentor and adoptive father Shifu, the kung fu master momentarily sees his renegade pupil as the adorable snow leopard cub he'd once been. The memory of baby Tai Lung makes the elderly monk hesitate and his ex-student brings him down.

* Film/FatherOfTheBride opens with the family at the table. As they eat, a little girl of lower elementary school age announces that she met a man in Rome, and they are getting married. Her father is startled. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Camera cuts back to the daughter, who is actually an adult, repeating joyfully, "I'm engaged! We're getting married!"

* * TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles has a PromotedToParent variant. It turns out the escaped convict is the brother of Baskerville Hall's housekeeper, and she keeps smuggling him food and clothes since to him he's still her little brother who needs her constant supervision (and Watson notes that a man is truly done for when no female member of his family feels like this).
* Appears several times in {{Discworld}}.
** Polly Oliver in MonstrousRegiment has had to take care of a mentally retarded brother most of her life, so she ends up treating her lieutenant in the same way, telling him to spit in a handkerchief so she can wipe his face.
** Glenda in UnseenAcademicals, who is basically a mother hen to her friend Julia despite their being the same age and ruling over the Night Kitchen much like her grandmother did. As lampshaded by Vetinari, who says they go through life like mothers on a playground, wiping up faces, blowing noses and otherwise treating adults like children.
** Also from Discworld, Nanny Ogg's cat Greebo is a vicious, foul-smelling, one-eyed, ''evil'' rapist of a tomcat that can scare off alligators, wolves and bears ([[MamaBear unless they have cubs]]), but she sees him as the tiny kitten he was a very, very long time ago.

* In the song "Mother" from Music/PinkFloyd's ''The Wall'', Pink's mother's responses to her son's growing paranoia go way beyond protective and reach the point of {{Tsundere}}-ishness, as Mother promises to help her boy wall himself off from the world and carefully manage her son's love life so that nobody "dirty" will get through that wall.

'''NOTE: Since this version of the YKTTW had more and more recent examples, and the other YKTTW appears to have been abandoned, all exanples from Always A Baby To Mom have been moved here.'''

!! Name Suggestions requested since tropers have said the current one is not descriptive enough.

'''That said, the two descriptions have been melded together as well and the trope is pretty close to ready to go now.'''

It is a parent's job (and in most cases, pleasure) to love and care for their child from birth until they reach adulthood and are ready to make their own way in the world. As part of this job, they must guide and protect the child as they learn and grow. This bond forms from the child's first wakened moments in the world and only gets stronger with the passage of time. Despite that, most parents understand and realize that they must make adjustments over time in how they treat their child, and what permissions and privileges they permit as their child grows up and begins to develop strengths and abilities.

'''Indices:'''
* ParentalIssues
* AgingTropes


'''Rolling Updates''' are up to date as of May 14, 2017

** "Forever Filly": Rarity drops in on Sweetie Belle without checking. Sweetie Belle takes off from the [=CMC=] and spends the day, but Rarity treats her like a tiny filly barely older than the Cake Twins. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's client seems to have the same problem: Zipporwhill hasn't realized her "puppy" is now a full grown dog and is too old for puppy toys. Thankfully solving Zip's problem in Rarity's earshot saves Sweetie Belle from having to explain, and Rarity acknowledges her sister has grown up since the last time they spent the day together.